Off To England, and Other Team News

A few quick notes to take your mind off the circus that is David Beckham and remind you that he isn't the only thing going on in American soccer:

Sean Mitchell reported today that strength coach Steve Tashjian will be leaving the team. He will be joing the fitness staff of Everton FC in the EPL. That's a huge promotion for Tashjian and quite a compliment to to the Crew. To have a player bought up by a European side is one thing, but when a member of the staff gets invited across the pond it means the whole organization is doing things right.

I've met Coach Steve a couple of times and he has always been really gracious to us as fans, an all-round nice guy. He is also one of the few staff members to come shake hands with the Nordecke after game.

Best of luck, Steve.

In other Crew news:

It looks like Guillermo Barros Schelotto is going to miss another week with his bad hamstring. He's actually not even in town, but rather in California filming a commercial. Images of Bill Murray in Lost In Translation come to mind.

No one knows anything regarding the health of Alejandro Moreno or Adam Moffat. If you ask me both of these guys can stay hurt (Moffat can just leave town), we're doing fine without them.

Jason Garey is up for Goal of the Week. But I think in this case it should be "Assist of the Week" for Steven Lenhart.

With GBS out we're likely to start the 4-4-2 against when Toronto FC comes to town this weekend, with Lenhart and Garey again running point. I am quite literally giddy with anticipation, watching Steven muscle his way around the TFC defense should be very entertaining.

Speaking of the Terrible Football Club, the buzz around BigSoccer is that their fans aren't making the trip to Columbus this weekend. Too bad, we hate it when we scare away visiting fan groups. HA!

So that's the news from around the Crewniverse. Unless we sign a first-rate striker or something equally earth shattering happens, I'll be back Sunday with the post-game report.